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“Levi, I don’t know what’s gotten into you,” Maylene says.
“What’s gotten into you, Maylene? I don’t understand why you’re disrespecting my girlfriend.”
On the inside, I’m smiling like a girl with a fresh bag of pink cotton candy right now. I like that Levi is referring to me as his girlfriend. As childish as it sounds, it makes us official, especially with his friends.
“Levi, you can’t be serious?”
His eyes widen, as do mine. “You know there’s a reason Iris stopped talking to you, Maylene, maybe I should revisit my memory and see why that was.”
“You wouldn’t,” she says in a voice barely above a whisper, and if I’m not mistaken, there are unshed tears pooling in her eyes.
“I would,” he says, shrugging. “Zara is my girlfriend and if you can’t accept that then you don’t need to come around anymore.” He pulls me to him and kisses me square on, in front of everyone to see. This will be on social media before his lips leave mine.
When I look back at Maylene, she’s crying and throwing daggers at me. It’s not my fault I met Levi at the right time or that she can’t grasp that he’s happy with me.
“Buck,” Levi says as he reaches for his friend’s hand. “Tell Lori I said hi.”
“You leavin’?”
“Yeah, man. This ain’t my thing. If my girlfriend ain’t accepted, then I have no place here.”
Levi places his hand on the small of my back and points to the door that we came through as our exit. A few people mumble incoherently as we leave, but it’s Maylene who follows us out, begging Levi to stay.
Not me.
Just Levi.
He ignores her and helps me climb into the truck, then runs around front and hops in. Levi reaches for my hand and pulls me until I’m sitting next to him. He places my hand on his thigh, making me smile.
“Sorry about that,” he says as he pulls onto the street.
“I would never blame you for the actions of your friends.” Just like I hope he never blames me for the shit that Darian, Hayden, or Freddie might say to him when they meet. “Can I ask you one question, though?”
He nods. “I didn’t sleep with her,” he says before I can ask. I love how he knew that was on my mind. “The night everyone came over was the first night I met her. She was comin' on pretty strong, but that didn’t matter because I was already interested in someone else.” He looks at me and winks before turning back toward the road.
I lean into him and kiss his shoulder, leaving my nose pressed there so I can inhale his cologne. Every so often he tilts his head enough so he can kiss me on the top of my head, and for some reason it makes me feel warm on the inside. He makes me feel loved.
Considering I have only been out of the house once, I have no idea where we’re going, but I get the sense we aren’t going in the direction of his house.
“Where are we going?”
“Well, I promised you a night out, and that is what I’m going to do. Besides,” he says as he comes to a stoplight. He looks down at me and grins. “You’re smokin’ hot in that dress, and I want to show you off.”
I sit up so I can see his expression better. There’s a glint in his eyes. It’s almost mischievous and daring. “What about ending up on social media?”
He shrugs and turns his gaze back to the road. “Are you ashamed to be seen with me?
There’s a hint of sadness in his voice, and I don’t like that. If we weren’t in a moving vehicle being commanded by him, I’d straddle his lap and show him exactly how not ashamed I am of him.
“Levi, I’d be seen with you anywhere, any day of the week.”
“Yeah?”
“Oh, yeah. So where ya takin’ me?” I purposely drop my “g” to sound like him.
Levi chuckles. “I know a place, darlin’.”
Between his usage of darling and his Southern accent, I’m a mess on the inside. If someone had told me that when I went through a major life changing event I would fall for someone like Levi so quickly, I would’ve laughed and called them a fool. But here I am, sitting next to a man who is offering me everything and has asked for nothing in return. He’s let me set the pace on our relationship, making sure that I am comfortable with everything and anything that we’re doing.
